TOKYO (Reuters) - Creating a bank to store a new type of
stem cell produced from donors' ordinary skin cells could help
reduce time and money for treating patients with regenerative
medicine in the future, a Japanese researcher said on
Wednesday.

This would be more practical than tailor-made treatments
for individual patients, said Shinya Yamanaka of Kyoto
University.

Yamanaka led one of two teams that in November unveiled how
to transform ordinary human skin cells into cells that look and
act like embryonic stem cells, but without using cloning
technology or human embryos.

Stem cell research has stirred up ethical debate, though
the field received a boost when Yamanaka's team and another
from the United States reported their findings separately last
year.

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The new cell type, called induced pluripotent stem cells
(iPS cells), have fuelled hopes for regenerative medicine,
although researchers say it will take years before such
medicine can be used to treat people. "It may be a good idea to
make an iPS cell bank," Yamanaka told a news conference.

"By making such a bank, we can cut down the cost of
treatment and also we can shorten the period which is required
for the generation of iPS cells," he said.

"In reality, tailor-made medicine using iPS cells is not so
ideal."

Scientists hope iPS cells will improve disease research and
pave the way for treating people with injuries as well as
diseases such as Parkinson's and diabetes.

But Yamanaka said it takes about three months to transform
a patient's skin cells into iPS cells, which is too much time
when considering that these cells may be needed within 10 days
to treat a spinal cord injury.

Yamanaka said it may take 10 years, or even longer for some
diseases, before iPS cells can be used to treat humans.